Floating gate flash cell device and method for partially etching silicon gate to form the same

ABSTRACT

A method for forming a split gate flash cell memory device provides for establishing a floating gate region then using spacers or other hard mask materials that cover opposed edges of a gate electrode material in the gate region, to serve as hard masks during an etching operation that partially etches the gate electrode material which may be polysilicon. The gate electrode so produced serves as a floating gate electrode and includes a recessed central portion flanked by a pair of opposed upwardly extending fins which may terminate upwardly at an apex. A floating gate oxide is then formed by thermal oxidation and/or oxide deposition techniques.

RELATED APPLICATION

This a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/038,180filed Mar. 1, 2011, the contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference as if set forth in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to semiconductor flash memory devices andmethods for making the same.

BACKGROUND

A flash memory is a non-volatile storage device that can be electricallyerased and reprogrammed. Flash memories are commonly used in memorycards, USB flash drives and solid-state drives for general storage andtransfer of data between computers and other digital products. Flashmemory devices typically store information in an array of memory cellsmade using floating gate transistors.

A floating gate transistor is a field effect transistor having astructure similar to a conventional MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductorfield effect transistor). Floating gate MOSFETs are distinguished fromconventional MOSFETs because the floating gate transistor includes twogates instead of one. In addition to an upper control gate, a floatinggate transistor includes an additional floating gate beneath the controlgate and above the transistor channel but completely electricallyisolated by an insulating layer such as an oxide layer that completelysurrounds the floating gate. This electrically isolated floating gatecreates a floating node in DC with a number of inputs or secondary gatessuch as the control gate, formed above the floating gate andelectrically isolated from it. These secondary gates or inputs are onlycapacitively connected to the floating gate. Because the floating gateis completely surrounded by highly resistive material, i.e. theinsulating layer, any charge placed on the floating gate is trappedthere and the floating gate remains unchanged far long periods of timeuntil the floating gate MOSFET is erased. Unless erased, the floatinggate will not discharge for many years under normal conditions.Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling or other Hot-Carrier injection mechanisms maybe used to modify the amount of charge stored in the floating gate, e.g.to erase the floating gate. The erase operation is therefore critical tothe operation of floating gate transistors.

The default state of an NOR (“Not Or” electronic logic gate) flash cellis logically equivalent to a binary “one” value because current flowsthrough the channel under application of an appropriate voltage to thecontrol gate when charge is stored in the floating gate. Such a flashcell device can be programmed or set to binary “zero” by applying anelevated voltage to the control gate.

To erase such a flash cell, i.e. resetting it to the “one” state, alarge voltage of the opposite polarity is applied between the controlgate and the source causing electrons to exit the floating gate throughquantum tunneling. In this manner, the electrical charge is removed fromthe floating gate. This tunneling necessarily takes place through theinter-gate dielectric formed between the floating gate and the controlgate. The inter-gate dielectric extends over the edge of the floatinggate and also over a floating gate oxide formed over the floating gateand the tunneling typically takes place through the inter-gatedielectric at the edge of the floating gate. The configuration and shapeof the floating gate and the inter-gate dielectric have a significantimpact on tunneling and the ability to erase the flash cell. It istherefore important to provide a floating gate transistor having afloating gate electrode, floating gate oxide and inter-gate dielectricappropriately configured to promote the creation of a strong electricfield that enables tunneling and allows for the flash cell device to beeasily erased.

The present invention addresses these concerns.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The present invention is best understood from the following detaileddescription when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. Itis emphasized that, according to common practice, the various featuresof the drawing are not necessarily to scale. On the contrary, thedimensions of the various features are arbitrarily expanded or reducedfor clarity. Like numerals denote like features throughout thespecification and drawing.

FIGS. 1-8 are cross-sectional views showing stages in a sequence ofprocessing operations used to form a split gate flash cell according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 9-10 are cross-sectional views illustrating one exemplaryembodiment of a sequence of processing operations following theprocessing operation illustrated in FIG. 8 to form a split gate flashcell, according to the invention;

FIGS. 11-12 are cross-sectional views illustrating another exemplaryembodiment of a sequence of processing operations following theprocessing operation illustrated in FIG. 8 to form a split gate flashcell, according to the invention; and

FIGS. 13-18 are cross-sectional views illustrating another exemplaryembodiment of a sequence of processing operations used to form a splitgate flash cell according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the invention provide for the fabrication of splitgate flash cells that include floating gate transistors. A layer of gatematerial such as polysilicon or another suitable material is formed overa gate dielectric layer disposed on a semiconductor substrate and anitride layer is formed over the layer of gate material. The gate regionof a floating gate transistor is defined and an etching operation iscarried out to remove a partial thickness of the gate material from acentral portion of the gate region to produce a floating gate with arecessed central portion flanked by fins or other upward projections atthe opposed edges of the floating gate. According to one aspect, thefins may be tapered and they may terminate upwardly at apices. Afloating gate oxide or other floating gate dielectric is then formedover the floating gate which may have a generally concave upper surface.Further processing operations are used to optionally divide the floatinggate into multiple floating gates and to form one or more control gatesover the structure, thereby forming one or more corresponding floatinggate transistors.

According to the various exemplary embodiments, the floating gate oxidemay be formed without using the more conventional LOCOS (local oxidationof silicon) processes for forming a floating gate oxide using nitride asa masking element.

Now turning to the figures, substrate 2 may be silicon or anothersuitable semiconductor substrate as shown in FIG. 1. Gate material layer4 includes top surface 6 and is formed over gate dielectric 8 which isformed on substrate surface 10. Gate dielectric 8 may be an oxide orother suitable gate dielectric material. In one exemplary embodiment,gate material layer 4 may be polysilicon or another suitable siliconlayer but in other exemplary embodiments, gate material layer 4 may beother suitable gate materials. Nitride layer 12 is formed over topsurface 6 of gate material layer 4. Nitride layer 12 may be siliconnitride, silicon oxynitride, or other suitable nitride materials.Patterned photoresist layer 14 includes an opening that defines gateregion 16. Conventional methods may be used to form the respectivelayers and to form and pattern, patterned photoresist layer 14.

Using patterned photoresist layer 14 as a mask, an etching operation iscarried out to remove nitride layer 12 from gate region 16. Patternedphotoresist layer 14 is then stripped to produce the structure shown inFIG. 2. Top surface 6 of gate material layer 4 is exposed in gate region16. Etched nitride layer 12 includes exposed upper surface 18 andsidewalls 20 that bound the opening formed in nitride layer 12 andwithin gate region 16.

Now referring to FIG. 3, dielectric spacers 24 are formed alongsidewalls 20 of nitride layer 12 in gate region 16. A central portion oftop surface 6 of gate material layer 4 remains exposed but it can beseen that width 28 of the exposed portion of gate material layer 4 isless than width 30 of gate region 16 due to the presence of dielectricspacers 24. Dielectric spacers 24 may be formed by depositing adielectric such as an oxide layer over the structure shown in FIG. 2,i.e. over upper surfaces 18 of nitride layer 12 and top surface 6 ofgate material layer 4 and along sidewalls 20 and depending on thethickness of the deposited dielectric layer used, it may also fill theopening formed in nitride layer 12 within gate region 16. The dielectriclayer may advantageously be an oxide layer formed using CVD, chemicalvapor deposition, PVD, plasma vapor deposition, PECVD, plasma enhancedchemical vapor deposition, or other suitable deposition techniques,using known methods. In one exemplary embodiment, the oxide layer may bea TEOS (tetraethyl orthosilicate) layer formed using known depositiontechniques. After the deposited dielectric layer is formed over nitridelayer 12 and within the opening in gate region 16, a conventionalanisotropic etching process may be used to form dielectric spacers 24alongside sidewalls 20, as shown in FIG. 3.

Now turning to FIG. 4, an etching procedure is carried out to partiallyetch gate material layer 4. According to one exemplary embodiment, gatematerial layer 4 may be polysilicon which may be doped or undoped and aconventional anisotropic polysilicon etching process may be used. FIG. 4shows that gate material layer 4 is partially etched, i.e. originalthickness 34 is diminished to reduced thickness 36 in central portion 40of gate material layer 4 in gate region 16. Receded upper surface 44 isrecessed below top surface 6. According to one exemplary embodiment,original thickness 34 may lie within the range of 500-1200 angstroms andreduced thickness 36 may lie within a range of about 350 to 900angstroms. Within gate region 16, gate material layer 4 includes centralportion 40 flanked by upwardly extending fins 46. Fins 46 and recessedcentral portion 40 results when dielectric spacers 24 serve as hardmasks during the etching of gate material layer 4.

An oxide deposition process operation followed by a polishing operationsuch as chemical mechanical polishing, CMP, is used to produce thestructure now shown in FIG. 5. The oxide deposition method may be TEOSor any of the aforementioned oxide deposition techniques. The depositedoxide fills the recessed portion of gate material layer 4, i.e. theportion over central portion 40 and bounded laterally by fins 46, andthe entire opening formed in gate region 16. FIG. 5 shows floating gateoxide 52 which includes the deposited oxide and also dielectric spacers24, which are advantageously oxide spacers and indicated by dashed linesin the illustrated embodiment.

Nitride layer 12 is removed to produce the structure shown in FIG. 6which includes floating gate oxide 52 within gate region 16 and exposedtop surfaces of gate material layer 4 in regions other than gate region16. Fins 46 and central portion 40 of gate material layer 4 are disposedin gate region 16.

Floating gate oxide 52 is used as a hard mask and an etching procedureis carried out to remove portions of gate material layer 4 from regionsother than gate region 16. This etch exposes upper surface 54 of gatedielectric 8 and produces floating gate electrode 56 which includescentral portion 40 which is recessed with respect to upwardly extendingfins 46 disposed at opposed lateral edges of floating gate 56 as shownin FIG. 7. Fins 46 may be generally tapered in cross-section.

FIG. 8 shows the structure after exposed portions of gate dielectric 8are removed from areas other than gate region 16. According to oneadvantageous embodiment, an isotropic, wet etching process may be usedto etch gate dielectric 8 which may be an oxide, and also portions offloating gate oxide 52 that was shown in FIG. 7. Floating gate oxide 52Ashown in FIG. 8 is now laterally and downwardly receded with respect tofloating gate oxide 52 that was shown in FIG. 7 prior to the isotropicoxide etch. FIG. 8 shows floating gate 56 including fins 46 and centralportion 40 which is recessed with respect to fins 46, and includes width30.

According to various exemplary embodiments, floating gate 56 may bedivided into two separate gates, each of which serves as a floating gatetransistor. The two floating gate transistors may combine to form asplit gate flash cell memory device. The sequence of processingoperations for forming this exemplary embodiment is shown in FIGS. 9 and10.

According to various other exemplary embodiments, floating gate 56 mayserve as a singular floating transistor gate for a floating gatetransistor. The sequence of processing operations for forming thisexemplary embodiment is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. According to thisexemplary embodiment, another floating gate transistor may besimultaneously fabricated alongside the floating gate formed accordingto the process sequence illustrated in FIGS. 1-8, to combine to form asplit gate flash cell memory device.

The floating gates may include a recessed central portion flanked by apair of upwardly extending fins at each of the opposed edges of thefloating gate or a recessed portion with an upwardly extending fin atone of the opposed edges of the floating gate.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate one exemplary embodiment for forming a splitgate flash cell memory device using a duality of floating gates such asthe one illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 9 shows the structure in FIG. 8after inter-gate dielectric 60 is formed over the structure shown inFIG. 8. Inter-gate dielectric 60 may be thermally formed such as by HTO(high temperature oxidation) or other thermal oxidation or oxidedeposition techniques. Control gate 64 extends partially over floatinggate 56. Control gate 64 may be formed by depositing a polysilicon layerafter inter-gate dielectric 60 is formed and then using conventionallithographic and etching procedures to produce control gate 64 from thedeposited polysilicon layer. In other exemplary embodiments, othersilicon materials or still other materials may be used for control gate64. The structure shown in FIG. 9 may serve as a floating gatetransistor.

According to one exemplary embodiment, two floating gate transistorssuch as the one floating gate transistor shown in FIG. 9, may besimultaneously fabricated adjacent one another to produce the split gateflash cell memory device shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 shows two floatinggate transistors that combine to form a split gate flash cell andutilize common source 68 formed in substrate 2. Common source 68 may beformed using conventional implantation techniques with floating gates 56in place, i.e. a self-aligned source region is formed.

According to another exemplary embodiment, such as when width 30 offloating gate 56 is sufficiently large as fabricated in FIG. 8, floatinggate 56 may be separated into two separated floating gates as shown inFIGS. 11, 12. FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of the structure of FIG. 8illustrated to include a larger width than illustrated in FIG. 8, afterinter-gate dielectric 60 is formed over the structure and also after twocontrol gates 64 have been formed over the opposed ends of floating gate56. After the two control gates 64 are formed, patterning and etchingoperations may be used to essentially separate floating gate 56 shown inFIG. 11, into two separated floating gates 72 shown in FIG. 12 byremoving a medial segment of floating gate 56 shown in FIG. 11, such asby etching. Each floating gate 72 includes base portion 74 and oneupwardly extending fin 78. Common source 82 is formed in substrate 2using ion implantation techniques and can be a self-aligned commonsource region 82.

FIGS. 13-18 show a sequence of processing operations used to form asplit gate flash device according to another exemplary embodiment. FIG.13 shows polysilicon layer 200 formed on top surface 202 of gatedielectric 204 formed on substrate 206. According to other exemplaryembodiments, polysilicon layer 200 may be formed of various other,suitable gate materials but will be referred to hereinafter simply aspolysilicon layer 200. Polysilicon layer 200 may include a thicknessranging from about 500 to 1500 angstroms in various exemplaryembodiments. Nitride layer 208 is formed over top surface 210 ofpolysilicon layer 200. Nitride layer 208 may be silicon nitrideaccording to one advantageous embodiment, but nitride layer 208 may besilicon oxynitride or other suitable nitride materials according toother exemplary embodiments. Nitride layer 208 may include a thicknessranging from about 1000-2500 angstroms according to one exemplaryembodiment but other thicknesses may be used in other exemplaryembodiments. Patterned photoresist layer 214 is formed over nitridelayer 208. Dashed lines 216 designate gate region 218 and it can be seenthat patterned photoresist layer 214 includes edges 222 that extend intogate region 218, leaving a central portion of gate region 218 notcovered by photoresist edges 222. Various suitable conventionalmaterials and techniques may be used to form the structure shown in FIG.13.

A tapered nitride etch process is performed on the structure shown inFIG. 13, to produce the structure shown in FIG. 14. For clarity, onlythe gate region (218 in FIG. 13) is illustrated in FIGS. 14-18. Thetapered etch removes nitride layer 208 from the central portion of gateregion 218 and leaves nitride edges 226 at opposed ends of gate region218. Nitride edges 226 include angled sidewalls 228. Various dry etchingprocedures such as RIE, reactive ion etching, procedures may be used toetch nitride layer 208 to produce angled sidewalls 228. Angled sidewalls228 form angle 230 with top surface 210 of polysilicon layer 200.According to one exemplary embodiment, angle 230 may be about 70°, butaccording to other exemplary embodiments, angle 230 may range from about50° to 90°, but will advantageously be less than 90° according to theembodiment in which sidewalls 228 are angled. Width 238 of exposedportion 242 of top surface 210 is less than width 240 of gate region218.

With nitride edges 226 in place with angled sidewalls 228, a polysiliconetching operation may be carried out to partially etch polysilicon layer200, to form the structure shown in FIG. 15. Depth 248 of polysiliconlayer 200 is removed. Depth 248 may range from about 200-400 angstromsin various exemplary embodiments, but different depths may be utilizedin other exemplary embodiments and may depend on the original thicknessof polysilicon layer 200. Various dry etching procedures such as RIE,reactive ion etching, procedures may be used to partially etchpolysilicon layer 200. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper surfaceof polysilicon layer 200 is essentially concave and includes roundedcorners 250 as a result of the angled sidewalls 228 of nitride edges226.

The remnants of photoresist layer 214 including edges 222, and nitridelayer 208 including nitride edges 226 may be removed to form thestructure in the floating gate region as illustrated in FIG. 16. Centralportion 254 of polysilicon layer 200 includes recessed top surface 256and is bounded by rounded corners 250 and a duality of upwardlyextending projections 260 within the gate region.

Conventional patterning and etching techniques are then utilized toremove portions of polysilicon layer 200 outside gate region 218. Insome exemplary embodiments, gate region 218 is defined such that outeredge portions of polysilicon large 200 are also removed from the gateregion to produce floating gate 262 shown in FIG. 17 in which portionsof upwardly extending projections 260 shown in FIG. 16 have also beenremoved. Well-known dry etching techniques such as RIE may be used.Floating gate 262 includes central portion 254 flanked by upwardlyextending lateral edges 266. Lateral edges 266 may be tapered in natureand may advantageously come to an apex such as tip 270 as shown in theillustrated embodiment of FIG. 17, but lateral edges 266 may take onother configurations in other exemplary embodiments.

An oxide layer or layers is then formed on the structure shown in FIG.17 to produce the floating gate transistor structure shown in FIG. 18.The structure shown in FIG. 17 may undergo a sidewall oxidation thatoxidizes floating gate 262 to produce an oxide layer on exposedsurfaces. The oxide may include a thickness ranging from about 10angstroms to about 50 angstroms. The oxide layer is formed alongsidewalls 274, recessed top surface 256 and lateral edges 266. Accordingto one advantageous embodiment in which lateral edges 266 includepointed tip 270, the oxidation will partially consume the silicon oflateral edges 266 and produce an even more pointed tip 270 as the apexof lateral edges 266. After the sidewall oxidation is carried out, afurther oxide layer is formed such as by using HTO, high temperatureoxidation, to form composite oxide layer 278. Control gate 282 may thenbe formed over floating gate 262 including over composite oxide layer278 to form a floating gate transistor. Control gate 282 may be formedof polysilicon or other suitable gate materials and may be formed andpatterned using conventional methods.

It should be understood that, similar to the processing operations shownin the sequences of FIGS. 9-10 and in the sequences of FIGS. 11-12,floating gate 262 may be separated into two floating gates by removing amedial portion by etching or it may be formed in tandem with an adjacentfloating gate formed according to the same methods with a common sourceformed between the structures.

One aspect of the invention provides a method for forming a floatinggate transistor. The method comprises forming a polysilicon layer over agate dielectric layer disposed on a semiconductor substrate, defining agate region for a floating gate transistor, and etching to remove apartial thickness of the polysilicon layer in a central section of thegate region. The method further includes removing the polysilicon layerfrom areas other than the gate region, thereby producing a floating gatefrom the polysilicon layer. The floating gate includes upwardlyextending fins disposed at opposed lateral edges and a recessed centralportion interposed therebetween. The method also includes forming a gateoxide over the floating gate, including over the recessed centralportion and the fins, and forming a control gate at least partially overthe floating gate oxide.

One aspect of the invention provides a method for forming a floatinggate transistor comprising: forming a silicon layer over a gatedielectric layer disposed on a substrate; forming a nitride layer overthe silicon layer; removing the nitride layer from a floating gateregion thereby forming a void bounded laterally by opposed sidewalls ofthe nitride layer; and forming spacers of a spacer oxide material alongthe opposed sidewalls. The method further comprises: partially etching acentral section of the silicon layer not covered by the spacers in thefloating gate region, thereby forming a recessed central portion of thesilicon in said floating gate region; depositing a further oxidematerial over the recessed portion within said floating gate region;removing the nitride layer; and removing the silicon layer from areasother than the floating gate region, thereby forming a floating gate.

According to another aspect, a method for forming a floating gatetransistor comprises: forming a polysilicon layer over a gate dielectriclayer formed over a semiconductor substrate; forming a nitride layerover the polysilicon layer; defining a floating gate region; forming apatterned photoresist layer over the nitride layer, the patternedphotoresist layer having photoresist edges extending into the floatinggate region. The method further comprises: etching the nitride layer notcovered by the photoresist edges in the floating gate region, to produceopposed nitride edges of the nitride layer within the floating gateregion; using the opposed nitride edges as hard masks and etching apartial depth of the polysilicon layer in a central section of thefloating gate region; removing the nitride layer; removing portions ofthe polysilicon layer from regions other than the floating gate regionthereby forming a floating gate; and forming an oxide on said floatinggate.

According to another aspect, a method for forming a semiconductor deviceis provided. The method comprises: forming a polysilicon layer over agate dielectric layer disposed on a semiconductor substrate; defining agate region for a floating gate transistor; etching to shape thepolysilicon layer to produce a floating gate including upwardlyextending fins disposed at opposed lateral edges in the gate region anda recessed central portion interposed therebetween.

According to another aspect, a method for forming a floating gatetransistor is provided. The method comprises: forming a silicon layerover a gate dielectric layer disposed on a substrate; defining a gateregion for a floating gate transistor; removing a partial thickness ofthe silicon layer in a central section of the gate region; removing thesilicon layer from areas other than the gate region thereby producing afloating gate from the silicon layer in the gate region, the floatinggate including upwardly extending fins disposed at opposed lateral edgesand a recessed central portion interposed therebetween; and forming afloating gate oxide over the floating gate including over the recessedcentral portion and the upwardly extending fins.

The preceding merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Itwill thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able todevise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described orshown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are includedwithin its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples and conditionallanguage recited herein are principally intended expressly to be onlyfor pedagogical purposes and to aid the reader in understanding theprinciples of the invention and the concepts contributed by theinventors to furthering the art, and are to be construed as beingwithout limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, andembodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, areintended to encompass both structural and functional equivalentsthereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include bothcurrently known equivalents and equivalents developed in the future,i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardlessof structure.

This description of the exemplary embodiments is intended to be read inconnection with the figures of the accompanying drawing, which are to beconsidered part of the entire written description. In the description,relative terms such as “lower,” “upper,” “horizontal,” “vertical,”“above,” “below,” “up,” “down,” “top” and “bottom” as well asderivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally,” “downwardly,” “upwardly,”etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then describedor as shown in the drawing under discussion. These relative terms arefor convenience of description and do not require that the apparatus beconstructed or operated in a particular orientation. Terms concerningattachments, coupling and the like, such as “connected” and“interconnected,” refer to a relationship wherein structures are securedor attached to one another either directly or indirectly throughintervening structures, as well as both movable or rigid attachments orrelationships, unless expressly described otherwise.

Although the invention has been described in terms of exemplaryembodiments, it is not limited thereto. Rather, the appended claimsshould be construed broadly, to include other variants and embodimentsof the invention, which may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope and range of equivalents of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for forming a floating gate transistor,comprising: forming a polysilicon layer over a gate dielectric layerdisposed on a semiconductor substrate; defining a gate region for afloating gate transistor; etching to remove a partial thickness of saidpolysilicon layer in a central section of said gate region; removingsaid polysilicon layer from areas other than said gate region therebyproducing a floating gate from said polysilicon layer in said gateregion, said floating gate including upwardly extending fins disposed atopposed lateral edges and a recessed central portion interposedtherebetween; forming a floating gate oxide over said floating gateincluding over said recessed central portion and said fins; and forminga control gate at least partially over said floating gate oxide.
 2. Themethod as in claim 1, further comprising forming a nitride layer oversaid polysilicon layer, wherein said etching to remove a partialthickness comprises said nitride layer covering said polysilicon layerin areas other than said gate region, and further comprising removingsaid nitride layer prior to said removing said polysilicon layer fromareas other than said gate region.
 3. The method as in claim 1, furthercomprising forming an inter-gate dielectric over said floating gateoxide and wherein said forming a control gate comprises forming saidcontrol gate over said inter-gate dielectric.
 4. The method as in claim1, wherein said removing said polysilicon layer from areas other thansaid gate region takes place before said forming a floating gate oxide.5. The method as in claim 4, further comprising forming a nitride layerover said polysilicon layer, and wherein said etching to remove apartial thickness comprises patterning said nitride layer to produceopposed nitride edges of said nitride layer extending into said gateregion and then using said nitride layer including said opposed nitrideedges as hard masks during said etching to remove said partialthickness.
 6. The method as in claim 5, wherein said opposed nitrideedges have angled sidewalls and wherein said using said nitride layerincluding said opposed nitride edges as hard masks and said etching toremove a partial thickness produces said upwardly extending fins eachhaving a tapered cross section.
 7. The method as in claim 1, whereinsaid forming a floating gate oxide takes place prior to said removingsaid polysilicon layer from areas other than said gate region, andwherein said floating gate oxide serves as a hard mask during saidremoving said polysilicon layer from areas other than said gate region.8. The method as in claim 7, further comprising forming a nitride layerover said polysilicon layer and wherein said defining a gate regioncomprises etching to remove said nitride layer from said gate regionthereby forming a void in said nitride layer bounded by sidewalls, andwherein said etching to remove a partial thickness of said polysiliconfilm comprises forming oxide spacers along said sidewalls and using saidoxide spacers as a mask.
 9. The method as in claim 8, wherein saidforming a floating gate oxide comprises depositing an oxide within saidvoid, filling said recessed central portion and covering said fins, saidoxide combining with said oxide spacers to form said floating gateoxide.
 10. A method for forming a semiconductor device, comprising:forming a polysilicon layer over a gate dielectric layer disposed on asemiconductor substrate; defining a gate region for a floating gatetransistor; and etching to shape said polysilicon layer to produce apolysilicon floating gate including upwardly extending fins disposed atopposed lateral edges in said gate region and a recessed central portioninterposed therebetween.
 11. The method as in claim 10, wherein saidetching to shape said polysilicon layer comprises etching to remove apartial thickness of said polysilicon layer in a central section of saidgate region to produce said recessed central portion and furthercomprising removing said polysilicon layer from areas other than saidgate region by etching.
 12. The method as in claim 11, wherein saidetching to remove a partial thickness of said polysilicon layer in saidcentral section comprises forming a nitride layer over said polysiliconlayer; removing said nitride layer from said gate region thereby forminga void bounded laterally by opposed sidewalls of said nitride layer;forming spacers of a spacer dielectric material along said opposedsidewalls; and partially etching said central section of said siliconlayer not covered by said spacers in said gate region.
 13. The method asin claim 10, further comprising forming a floating gate oxide over saidpolysilicon floating gate including over said recessed central portionand said fins; and forming a control gate at least partially over saidfloating gate oxide.
 14. A method for forming a floating gatetransistor, comprising: forming a silicon layer over a gate dielectriclayer disposed on a substrate; defining a gate region for a floatinggate transistor; removing a partial thickness of said silicon layer in acentral section of said gate region; removing said silicon layer fromareas other than said gate region thereby producing a floating gate fromsaid silicon layer in said gate region, said floating gate includingupwardly extending fins disposed at opposed lateral edges and a recessedcentral portion interposed therebetween; and forming a floating gateoxide over said floating gate including over said recessed centralportion and said upwardly extending fins.
 15. The method as in claim 14,wherein said silicon layer comprises a polysilicon layer and saidforming a floating gate oxide comprises a thermal oxidation processfollowed by an oxide deposition process.
 16. The method as in claim 14,further comprising: forming a nitride layer over said silicon layer, andwherein said removing a partial thickness comprises patterning saidnitride layer to produce opposed nitride edges with angled sidewalls andwhich extend into said gate region and then using said nitride layerincluding said opposed nitride edges, as hard masks during an etchingoperation that removes said partial thickness.
 17. The method as inclaim 14, wherein said forming a floating gate oxide takes place priorto said removing said silicon layer from areas other than said gateregion, and wherein said floating gate oxide serves as a hard maskduring said removing said silicon layer from areas other than said gateregion.
 18. The method as in claim 14, further comprising forming anitride layer over said silicon layer and wherein said defining a gateregion comprises etching to remove said nitride layer from said gateregion thereby forming a void in said nitride layer over said gateregion and bounded by sidewalls, and wherein said removing a partialthickness of said silicon layer comprises forming oxide spacers alongsaid sidewalls and using said oxide spacers as a mask, and etching. 19.The method as in claim 18, wherein said forming a floating gate oxidecomprises depositing an oxide within said void and which fills saidrecessed central portion and covers said fins, said oxide combining withsaid oxide spacers to form said floating gate oxide and furthercomprising forming a control gate at least partially over said floatinggate oxide.
 20. The method as in claim 14, further comprising:separating said floating gate into two separated floating gates byremoving a medial section of said floating gate; forming a common sourcearea in said substrate and between said two separated floating gates;forming an inter-gate oxide layer over each said separated floatinggate; and forming a corresponding control gate extending at leastpartially over each said separated floating gate.